The Invisible Weapon

Telecommunications and International Politics, 1851-1945

Daniel R. Headrick

Classic work in history of technology, international history, and communications.

The Invisible Weapon

Telecommunications and International Politics, 1851-1945

Daniel R. Headrick

Description

A vital instrument of power, telecommunications is and has always been a political technology. In this book, Headrick examines the political history of telecommunications from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of World War II. He argues that this technology gave society new options. In times of peace, the telegraph and radio were, as many predicted, instruments of peace; in times of tension, they became instruments of politics, tools for rival interests, and weapons of war. Writing in a lively, accessible style, Headrick illuminates the political aspects of information technology, showing how in both World Wars, the use of radio led to a shadowy war of disinformation, cryptography, and communications intelligence, with decisive consequences.

3 The Expansion of the World Cable Network, 1866-1895The Technology of CablesThe Atlantic CablesThe Cable CompaniesCables to India and AustraliaCable Rivalries in the West Indies and Latin AmericaAcross Russia to JapanCommercial Codes and the International Telegraph
UnionConclusion

4 Telegraphy and Imperialism in the Late Nineteenth CenturyThe Telegraph in IndiaThe Telegraph in IndochinaCables and News in the French West IndiesThe Telegraph in ChinaThe East African CablesThe West African CablesCables and Colonial ControlConclusion

5 Crisis at the Turn of the Century, 1895-1901Telegraphy and DiplomacyBritish Cable Strategy to 1898Telegraphic Delays and French ImperialismGermany and the Azores AffairThe Spanish-American WarThe Fashoda IncidentThe British Strategic Cable Report of 1898The Boer War

6 The Great Powers and the Cable Crisis, 1900-1913The British Pacific Cable and the "All-Red" RoutesBritish Cable Strategy,
1902-1914The American CablesFrance and the Cable CrisisGermany and the Cable CrisisConclusion

7 The Beginnings of Radio, 1895-1914Marconi and the Birth of Wireless TelegraphyThe Marconi Monopoly and the Reaction of the PowersTechnological Change and Commercial RivalriesThe U.S. Navy and Radio to 1908The Continuous Ware, 1908-1914French Colonial WirelessGerman Long-Distance and Colonial RadioThe British Imperial Wireless ChainConclusion

8 Cables and Radio in World War IThe Jitters of July 1914Allied Attacks on German CommunicationsGerman Attacks on Allied CommunicationsAllied Communications during the WarCensorshipPropagandaConclusion

10 Conflicts and Settlements, 1919-1923The Paris Peace Conference of 1919The Washington Conferences of 1920-1922The Struggle over Cables to Latin AmericaThe Radio Corporation of AmericaBritish Radio, 1919~1924German and French Radio to 1924Radio in Latin America and ChinaConclusion

11 Technological Upheavals and Commercial Rivalries, 1924-1939The Distribution of Cables in the World in 1923Cable
Technology in the 1920sThe New Cables, 1924-1929ITT and the TelephonesThe British ReactionFrench Colonial ShortwaveThe International Impact of ShortwaveThe British Communications MergerResponses to the British MergerThe British Dilemma: Profits versus SecurityConclusion

12 Communications Intelligence in World War IIBritish and German Communications Intelligence to 1936Cipher MachinesThe Approach of War, 1936-1939The Outbreak of War, 1939-1940British Communications Intelligence in WartimeGerman Communications Intelligence in WartimeThe Battles of Britain and North AfricaGerman Spies and Allied Radio DeceptionFunkspiele, Resistance, and the Normandy LandingThe Soviet
RingsConclusion

13 The War at SeaThe Cable WarCommunications and Naval Warfare in the AtlanticThe Battle of the Atlantic, 1939-1944American Communications Intelligence before Pearl HarborFrom Pearl Harbor to MidwayAfter Midway

14 The Changing of the GuardThe American ExpansionStrategic Cables to North Africa and EuropeThe Retreat of BritainThe Organization of Postwar CommunicationsConclusion

15 Telecommunications, Information, and Security

Bibliography EssayBooks on Submarine Telegraph CablesBooks on Radio and TelecommunicationsCommunications IntelligencePrimary Sources

Index

The Invisible Weapon

Telecommunications and International Politics, 1851-1945

Daniel R. Headrick

Author Information

Daniel R. Headrick is Professor Emeritus of Social Science and History at Roosevelt University and author of numerous books on world history, including Power over Peoples: Technology, Environments, and Western Imperialism, 1400 to the Present, Technology: A World History (OUP, 2009), When Information Came of Age (OUP, 2000), The Tentacles of Progress (OUP, 1988), and The Tools of Empire (OUP, 1981).

The Invisible Weapon

Telecommunications and International Politics, 1851-1945

Daniel R. Headrick

Reviews and Awards

"A mine of useful information for communication researchers....The data presented here represent a major contribution to the field and will be of immense value to scholars interested in the historical linkages between mass media and communication technology .A refreshing-and relativizing-historical perspective." --Journal of Communication

"A rare and welcome contribution to the underdeveloped literature on technology and international relations." --Foreign Affairs

"A well-balanced book that presents the growth of telecommunications technologies within a global context." --Journal of World History

"Headrick's broad-ranging study of the connections between international communications and world politics from the rise of the submarine cable to the end of World War II makes a major contribution." --Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"The value of Headrick's book to communication historians is primarily in its compilation of a wealth of examples and minute details about Western cable development and politics the world over.... A good resource for anyone interested in the early global development of telecommunications." --Journalism History

"With The Invisible Weapon Daniel Headrick puts the capstone on a decade of solid research centered on technology and global politics during the nineteenth and twentieth century....A work that future historians will turn to repeatedly as the study of information and communications takes on increasing intellectual and social importance." --Business History Review

"A fascinating study of the impact of one particular ingredient of the nineteenth-century scientific and technological revolution which is still transforming the modern world." --European History Quarterly